In the old Canal Zone if you didn't have wheels you depended on a Chiva to take you anywhere. One of the places to go was the Balboa YMCA. It was a great place to workout, dance with the pretty girls, go for a swim in the matchbox size of a pool, get a massage, shoot a few hoops or just hang out. Some people even lived at the YMCA. There was a great restuarant called the Sand Dollar that offered great tasting cuisine. The curio shop was out of sight to with things from all over the world. It was like a clubhouse but much more. Now getting there was part of the fun too. Here is a little story I call:
My reflections of riding Chivas in Panama
By Louis J. Barbier Jr. BHS Class of 1957
"Parada... Yo dije Parada!!!!
Now for an unforgettable experience... riding buses or Chivas as they are called in Panama. In 1097 I was again in Panama working. My little 78 Dodge Horizon was in the shop awaiting parts from the states. I was living in Cerro Viento and using mass transit. Taking a bus in Panama was like taking your life in your hands. My favorite bus was PI Magnum. The bus drivers in Panama named their buses after important people and popular TV shows. I would catch PI Magnum at the limite. As soon as I got on it was like being a Rodeo Bronco Rider! Yes, I could hear the roar of the crowd as the announcer would say, "Coming out of chute 9 aboard White Lighening is the Cocoli Kid." What a ride home! Lots of people boarded the bus. It seemed like there was always room for one more. As soon as a passenger had set his second foot inside the bus, the tires would squeal as we peeled rubber leaving the curb in a haze of blue smoke. If you were not careful youwould end up in a heap on the floor or worst you might go flying down the aisle and out the back door... not good. Most people sat or tried to stand at the front of the bus. The radio was always screaming salsa music that one could not hear you think or yell Parada! So to stop the bus it might go like this; "Parada!!!! Que pasa yo dije Parada? Hoy... ahora no manana! Yo dije Parada. Aqui... ahora. Dale freno... mas fuerte hombre! Si tio hermano... para la chiva. Parada ahora no el dia del huevo!" The bus would finally stop and in a crush of bodies a person would try to get off the bus. One got very friendly with everybody as one made his way to an exit door. Sometimes the bus driver took off before you got off... theneverybody would start yelling, "Parad, yo dije Parada!!!" Of course by then you were pat your bus stop and probably on your way down Salsipuedes. Finally if you were lucky you got off the bus a mile away from your Parada.
That is why many people took a taxi around the city and for short hops around the Canal Zone. An exchange for catching a taxi would go like this since none of the taxis had meters, "Hola, cuanto para llevarme al YMCA de Balboa? $2.50...Okay... andale." Then the taxi would speed off like if you were in a demolitioon derby or the Indy 500. The driver would thread his way through congested traffic with brake, horn and accelerator. Sometimes he would stand on his brakes as his wheels would squeal like a banshe on the plains of Kilamenjaro and we would miss a fender by inches or find ourselves on the sidewalk completely stopped. I would say after catch my breath "Alli casi... casi quedamos alli!" The driver would do a little quick turning of the wheel back and forth and we would be off again as he said, "No se procupes Senor... todo esta debajo de control! Pronto llegamos... falta poco"
I would sit back as soon as we crossed into the Canal Area and start practicing my English. "What is your name? My name is Panama? No your real name. My names is Juanita Maria de Calee Abajo y Calle Arriba de Los Santos...etc. Basta! Yo lo entiendo. Your name is Panama. Your bus stop is coming up Parada!" And so it went every day an adventure in riding the bus en la Cuidad de Panama... Y como se dice Parada, yo dije Parada! This is my stop. See-ya... |
